Do you get tearful when drunk? If you’re a woman, then your sex may be to blame.

A recent study has found that young women get the booze blues after one too many glasses while men stay cheerful.

Research was carried out on 151 Danish girls and 79 boys, aged 15 to 20, who attended high-school parties.

A recent study has found that young women get the booze blues after one too many glasses while men stay cheerful

While drinking, the students visited an examination room near the party in one-hour intervals to have their Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) and levels of cheerfulness, focus distraction, and sluggishness measured.

BACs were measured by means of a breath analyser, while the participants rated their level of cheerfulness from 0-16, focus distraction from 0-8 and sluggishness from 0-4.

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Professor Marie Eliasen, of the University of Southern Denmark, said: ‘We found that low to moderate alcohol consumption is associated with increased cheerfulness among adolescents attending high-school parties.

‘Extensive alcohol consumption leading to
high BACs was associated with decreased cheerfulness among girls, while
this was not found for boys.’

The lack of a dip in cheerfulness in men could be down to a higher alcohol tolerance among males as they binge drank more frequently

The finding may work as an argument for parents and clinicians trying to reduce excessive alcohol consumption among teens

The professor explained the lack of a dip in cheerfulness in higher BACs boys could be down to a higher alcohol tolerance among males as they binge drank more frequently and generally had a higher weekly alcohol intake than the girls.

To combat this professor Eliasen recommended rather than employ scare tactics in public-health campaigns, alcohol prevention strategies targeting teens should instead focus on having fun without excessive boozing.

She added: ‘Our findings of increased focus distraction at high BACs stress the importance of reducing excessive alcohol drinking, as increased focus distraction is strongly associated with higher risks of accidents.

‘This finding may also work as an argument for parents and clinicians trying to reduce excessive alcohol consumption among adolescents.

‘And the finding of a low to moderate BAC among the majority of the students may be used to challenge the idea that the majority of adolescents drink in excess and thus change adolescents' own perception of normality, which again may reduce their alcohol consumption.’

The findings will be published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

IF YOU WANT TO DRINK LESS, THEN TURN THE MUSIC DOWN

Alcohol tastes sweeter when loud music is playing and the noise could make it difficult for drinkers to judge how much they are consuming, new research has claimed.

Dr Lorenzo Stafford, a psychologist from the University of Portsmouth, in a series of related studies, explored how environment affects perceptions of alcohol and drinking behavior.

Dr Stafford said: 'Since humans have an innate preference for sweetness, these findings offer a plausible explanation as to why people consume more alcohol in noisy environments.'

In Dr Stafford's research, 80 participants (69 females and 11 males aged between 18 and 28 and regular drinkers) had to rate a selection of drinks varying in alcohol content on the basis of alcohol strength, sweetness and bitterness.

They were given one of four different levels of distraction, from no distraction to loud club-type music playing at the same time as reading a news report.

The tests found that drinks were rated significantly sweeter overall when participants were listening to music alone.